


Six

by peachgal743



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt No Comfort, i am sorry hargreeves children, some description of how ben may have died
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-02 02:31:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17879399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachgal743/pseuds/peachgal743
Summary: "Allison has to keep reminding herself that they aren’t waiting for Ben to come to the breakfast table."The Hargreeves siblings contemplate Ben's death after it happens. Set when they are around sixteen. Not beta read or even proof read I am sorry.





	Six

   Allison has to keep reminding herself that they aren’t waiting for Ben to come to the breakfast table. He’s usually late to breakfast, sometimes having to be coaxed out of bed by Mom because the nausea caused by what lurks beneath his skin is too much to handle some times. So it isn’t unusual for everyone but Klaus and Ben to be downstairs when Allison reaches her seat. Dad had long since given up on maintaining regular mealtimes for Klaus, but every time he instructs them to begin eating without Ben, Allison feels the question of where he is approach her throat, only to die with an abrupt sigh of realization.

   Ben died four weeks and three days ago, but for Allison that reality is in flux. Sometimes, it hits her like a punch from Luther. Other times, she forgets entirely until someone reminds her that she will never see her brother again.

   “Number Three?” her head shoots up at the stern, nasally voice of her father calling to her, “Eat!”

   She hadn’t realized, but she’s been staring blankly at her eggs and sausage for a few minutes now. She picks up her fork. It feels like it weighs a ton.

~

   Vanya can’t stop thinking about Ben. The rest of her siblings had seen it happen. She hadn’t, and even though she knows it was grisly, she wants to know. With Five’s disappearance, she had at least been there. But now, the others refuse to tell her exactly how her brother died, so Vanya is left to wonder.

   The spiral of her thoughts gets worse and worse. Maybe he was shot in the head. That would at least be quick. She knows their mission was a covert one, so it hadn’t been on the news. It wasn’t an explosion. Maybe he drowned, he wasn’t a good swimmer and always came in last when the others did swimming exercises (he complained of extra weight). Was he hit by a car, blood splattered all over some dirt road in the countryside? Did his skull get smashed by an axe or a bat, caved in, brain visible under gushing blood?

   Vanya feels sick. She doesn’t, however, feel sad. She misses her brother, and she isn’t glad that he’s dead and she certainly doesn’t like the horror show that her brain is presenting her, but something keeps her from truly crying. She’s not even angry at the others for keeping the truth from her. In the end, she’s as numb as she always is. She takes her pill after breakfast when Mom hands it to her.

~

   When he came home carrying Ben’s body, Luther had felt nothing but the crushing sting of guilt. He was meant to protect the other members of the academy. He already failed at keeping Five in line, and now he’s been missing for going on three years. Now Ben was dead, body limp and eyes staring into the dark inside of a coffin six feet under the earth.

   He had turned his head for one minute as the chaos unfolded around them. Without even thinking, his first priority had been to take out the leader of the group attacking them. Keeping tabs on his siblings was secondary. When the leader was successfully neutralized, just as Dad had taught him, he turned back to take stock of the rest of the team. There, he saw only blood, red and gushing, and heard only three horrified screams.

   Luther stares into the smiley face pancake Mom had made, probably in an effort to cheer him up. He has to put grief behind him. Dad says he has to be a leader before all else.

~

   Diego is livid. Every clang on of a fork onto a plate causes a wave of anger in him that sweeps away all other thoughts. His shoulders are tense, his jaw set painfully, as he stares straight ahead into the foyer. He ignores his father’s admonishments, not willing to give him the time of day and also entirely unwilling to risk unleashing his anger upon him. Instead, Diego fixes his heated gaze onto Luther.

   Luther knows that it's all his fault. Ben is dead. Ben who never wanted this. Ben who Luther goaded into coming on every last mission. Diego’s fingers itch around the handle of his butter knife. He could through it just so that it grazes Luther’s ear or slices almost harmlessly against his shoulder. Maybe that would dissolve some of the roaring anger inside of him.

   Diego’s increasingly violent train of thought is interrupted by an earsplitting shriek. The shock of it is enough to turn all of Diego’s seething anger into fear because he knows that yell. It’s Klaus, and he’s terrified of something. He hasn’t heard a scream like that since they were younger (before Klaus started to numb his abilities with drugs). Whatever it is, Klaus must be in danger. And yet, no one at the table moves. The pause their eating momentarily, but after seeing that their father does no such thing, they resume.

   Diego looks around in shock, anger returning with a vengeance. Another scream is the last straw, and Diego whips his knife at the opposite wall as he stands up, toppling his chair and shifting the table.

   “Number Two!” Their father exclaims, “Sit back down at once.”

   Diego ignores him and takes off towards the stairs, climbing them two at a time to get to Klaus’s room. When he flings open the door, he is first greeted by the plume of smoke, and then by the sound of Klaus talking loudly. Klaus is sitting with his back pressed into the corner of the room, shouting with his eye line fixed on the bed, like someone is sitting there.

   “Go away! You’re dead! Stay that way!"

   “Klaus!” Diego shouts, but Klaus doesn’t seem to hear him.

   “Stop it! You know better than anyone why I do this. You’re only trying to stop me now because you’re dead. Trying to get into heaven or something?” Klaus yells, voice hoarse by now and tone far more panicked than his words. 

   Realization strikes Diego, and suddenly he can’t remember being mad. Klaus had conjured Ben, and not on purpose. Ben is here, invisible to him, but all too real to Klaus. Klaus shouts again, covering his ears and blowing a raspberry, childish even in his distress. Diego covers the distance between them in a few strides, crouching in front of him.

   “Klaus?” Klaus seems to realize his presence then, eyes focusing as much as they seem to be able (it occurs to Diego just how high he really is). Then, Klaus’s gaze shifts to the rest of the room. When he returns to Diego’s eye line, he seems to relax all at once.

   “He’s gone,” he whispers, and promptly passes out. Diego isn’t sure what to do, so he turns Klaus on his side and leaves the room. He goes to slam the door, but finds all the energy of his anger has disappeared. Now, he realizes, he can only flounder under the weight of crushing sadness. He walks back to his room, an unwelcome tear leaking from his eye.

**Author's Note:**

> anywayz i wrote this in like an half an hour so i apologize if some of this doesn't make any sense. my favoritism is clearly showing with the length of everyone's part in this oops. I didn't give Klaus a part because I couldn't begin to imagine his state of mind at this point, so I left it to Diego's viewpoint. I had fun writing this even if its embarrassingly bad lol. leave a comment if u wanna chat!


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